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Last week I had the pleasure of speaking with Merv Jersak on his Lead With Purpose Podcast.
Merv asked me what I thought was one of the major causes of leadership failure. My answer was that people are put in leadership positions without getting any training in how to lead.
Leadership is often called a “soft skill.” (I absolutely despise that term.) Someone is successful at some trade and so he or she is put in charge of others in that trade with the non-sensical belief that their abilities in one job will make them successful in another.
That puts an unreasonable amount of stress on the new leader.
Often the new responsibility is called management and the new manager sometimes receives some training; but not on leadership. Instead, training tends to concentrate on the administrative aspect of the new responsibility. After all, the new job is “manager,” not leader.
And therein lies a basic misunderstanding: manager vs. leader.
Understand that if a person has any responsibility for what others do or what they produce, they are a leader. They may be a good leader or they may be a bad leader, but they are a leader nonetheless.
Another problem is the belief that someone is a “born leader.” It’s one of the more dangerous concepts in leadership. The “born leader” can do a lot of damage believing they don’t need any training in leadership skills. Just because they were successful in their profession doesn’t mean they have an inherent ability to lead others. There is no genetic profile or strand of DNA that determines leadership ability. No one is born with an innate knowledge of good leadership. But that doesn’t mean only some types of people can be effective leaders. In fact, experience has shown me almost anyone can become a good leader if they embrace the two requirements that lead to successful leadership.
1. A genuine desire to be a good leader.
2. A willingness to learn the skills and techniques of good leadership.
Another problem I see is the tendency to make leadership seem overly complex. Every leadership “expert” has to come up with something new and/or difference in order to sell books and get clients. This results in way too many overly complex and lengthy definitions of leadership. In fact, The Daedalus Group’s definition of leadership is Getting things done through people. That’s what leaders do.
It sounds simple, but it really isn’t. Successful leadership requires an understanding of new skills and techniques.